Category Archives: Current affairs

Geography’s Oscars: John O’Loughlin’s Distinguished Scholarship Award

The Association of American Geographers gathered in the Crystal Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel on 13th of April 2013 for an awards luncheon. The location was an appropriate one to dispense awards as it was the site of a series … Continue reading →

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Conference Season

Each year different tribes of academic laborers have their trade shows. This laborer is attending two virtually back to back, the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles and then the Association for the Study of Nationalities conference in … Continue reading →

Posted in Caucasus conflict, Critical Geopolitics, Current affairs, De Facto States, ethnic cleansing, Five Day War, Nagorno-Karabakh, Nagorny Karabakh, nationalism, Political Geography, South Ossetia | Tagged | 2 Comments

Unfinished Business in Northern Ireland

“Happy Saint Patrick’s Week.” That was the conclusion of the speech by the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny at the Westin Park Hotel on Tuesday night. The once religious holiday has become a week long series of breakfasts, lunches, … Continue reading →

Posted in Current affairs, Democracy, Northern Ireland | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Reversing Ethnic Cleansing: Is It Possible Peacefully?

On 10 March I gave the closing keynote at the 6th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS). The topic of my talk was Reversing Ethnic Cleansing: Bosnia’s Experience and Protracted Displacement in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Abkhazia, August War, Bosnia, Bosnian war, Caucasus conflict, Current affairs, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, genocide, Georgia, nationalism, Pinheiro Principles, restitution, South Ossetia, World political map | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Rhetorical Politics of Milorad Dodik

My essay on the former prime minister and current president of Republika Srpska has just been published in the Discussion section of the journal Nationalities Papers, a Taylor and Francis journal (41, 1: 160-204). I’m grateful to the departing editor … Continue reading →

Posted in Bosnia, Bosnian war, Current affairs, Democracy, nationalism, Rhetoric, World political map | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Should the United States Save Syria?

Yesterday afternoon I attended a debate organized around this question. The event was the first organized by a new ‘decision tank’ in Washington DC, the McCain Institute. Named after Senator John McCain, organized in collaboration with Arizona State University, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Current affairs, John McCain, Syria, US Senate, Washington D.C. | Tagged | 1 Comment

Bend it like ‘Bama

So what have one million people done to my football pitch? Has majestic battle hymn democracy destroyed the ground friends and I play soccer upon every Sunday? Well I suppose an alliterative public extension of the bonds of inclusion in … Continue reading →

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Power and Political Geography

Very useful 11 minute segment last night on the Rachel Maddow Show on the question of the alleged gerrymandering of Congressional Districts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Virginia. Useful teaching resource and illustration of the power of political geography. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Current affairs, Political Borders | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“We have to fix that”

Among the many pleasures on election night last month was seeing the fire in Obama’s eye as he went off script — “by the way, we have to fix that” — during a wonderful election night speech. He was referring … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, Constitution, Current affairs, Democracy, Obama, US Senate, Washington D.C. | Leave a comment

Slow Knowledge

It is good to know that, in this globally connected world of ever increasing turnover speeds and response times that there is something still stuck in the groove of the nineteenth century: academic publishing timelines! The following are some articles … Continue reading →

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